So Dong Rui cut in, "—I'll use this to notify you."
Was this a miniature version of that bat demon puppet from earlier? Shrunk down like this, it didn't look nearly as jarring; its eyes were larger and brighter.
"Is this a new one you made?" Earlier, Dong Rui had persistently denied having any new demon puppets, but He Lingchuan knew to take his words in reverse.
"No shit." Dong Rui stroked the little bat and warned him, "You destroyed all my original ones. This is the only successful, one-of-a-kind piece I've made in the past few months. Don't you dare mess with it again!"
*Mess with it?* He Lingchuan looked at him, full of question marks. "The only one? Meaning—"
"Right. Your Mount Xu operation will have to rely on it too," Dong Rui said. "This is a brand-new breed, capable of a two-stage transformation! What you saw earlier at the carriage depot was just the first stage, medium size. It can get even bigger." With that, he snapped his fingers.
The bat hopped onto the ground, its size ballooning.
A monstrosity several times larger than before appeared, burly and ferocious. By He Lingchuan's rough estimate, fully spread, its wingspan could reach over thirty feet, roughly comparable to Dong Rui's earlier strange bird demon puppet.
Upon landing, it puffed out its chest, clearly wanting to let out an imposing roar, only for Dong Rui to shush it back into silence.
Pianxiang Villa had quite a few people, and this place wasn't that far from the shore.
"It also has the gentle breeze talent. Carrying one person won't be an issue," Dong Rui said solemnly. "If you want to take to the skies, it all depends on this guy."
"All right." He Lingchuan stepped closer and gently patted the bat's head.
It was likewise a large, furry head, but why did petting this one feel so awkward?
The bat, however, seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Under Dong Rui's control, it wouldn't attack He Lingchuan at will.
"We have another big problem." Dong Rui fingered the storage ring on his hand. "Our stock of prunella spikes is running low. There isn't enough left for the snail-toad to feed two more times."
He Lingchuan's heart tightened. "How many more days can it last?"
Everything was in the ring. Dong Rui estimated, "Ten days at most, since we also have to leave some time to forage for prunella spikes."
Originally, he had lived worry-free in Lingxu City, with Xi Yunhe handling the snail-toad's rations.
Now that Dong Rui had fled, he had to figure out how to procure prunella spikes himself. Otherwise, without the medicinal potency of this herb to suppress it, the snail-toad would soon develop into a full-fledged ghost toad, making it completely impossible to bear the snail shell.
The ability of this treasure, "Snail Dwelling," to travel underground was truly not something just any monster could make use of; otherwise, it wouldn't have remained locked away in the high pavilions of the Azure Palace for all those years.
"Then we move the Mount Xu Plan forward." He Lingchuan knew plans could never keep up with rapid changes. "We strike in five days!"
Dong Rui had no objection.
A thought struck He Lingchuan, and he remembered another matter: "Right, what compensation did Xi Yunhe give you earlier?"
"Oh, this." Dong Rui took out the box and opened it.
He Lingchuan looked down. It was actually a soft skin mask?
"Who... made this?"
"Made by National Preceptor Shuangye's own hands." Dong Rui walked back into the room. The dust on the table had already been wiped away, and he set the box down. "As payment for treating the snail-toad."
"Can you even wear it?" He Lingchuan knew that Dong Rui's face was not merely rotted away, but even his jawbones had been corroded, unable to support flesh and skin, which was why he looked like a wax-melt demon. What good would wearing a mask do?
Dong Rui pointed to his face. "Take a closer look now—see if there are bones or not!"
Looking straight at his face required immense courage. He Lingchuan couldn't very well admit that he had been avoiding looking closely, so he hedged, "Seems like there are? National Preceptor Shuangye could make you regrow a chin?"
"Could she not?" Dong Rui turned his head to show him. "Even the cheek muscles grew back. That's why I can wear a mask now."
With that, he laid the mask over his face and slowly adjusted it.
He Lingchuan took out a mirror so he could look at himself.
Dong Rui was probably wearing it for the first time and was rather clumsy at it, taking a quarter of an hour to finish. Along the way, he even used several flexible soft pillars behind his jaw to keep his cheeks from caving in.
The face looked to be around thirty years old, gentle and scholarly—likely Dong Rui's own request.
Except for a slight stiffness when smiling, making any other expression was quite fluid.
He Lingchuan couldn't resist reaching out to poke it twice. It truly felt just like human skin, and it was even warm.
Had he not seen him put it on with his own eyes, He Lingchuan would have thought it was a real face.
Dong Rui was evidently very satisfied as well, pulling faces and bobbing his head in front of the mirror longer than a young girl would. Finally, He Lingchuan grew impatient: "Enough already, quit preening!"
There were leftover soft pillars in the box. He picked one up and squeezed it twice; it was soft and very springy, remarkably similar to the silicone material he had seen in his previous world.
Well, actually, it was even more like...
As he was reminiscing, he heard Dong Rui say, "National Preceptor Shuangye instructed that once the mask is put on, it shouldn't be taken off. Over time, it will fully fuse with the face. These soft pillars can be thrown away once the tendons and muscles have completely healed."
"How could a mask be so miraculous as to grow directly into a new face?" He Lingchuan wondered suspiciously. "Could it be a magic artifact?" But it didn't feel like one.
National Preceptor Shuangye had this kind of craft? If she ever stopped being a National Preceptor, she could make a fortune working full-time in plastic surgery and cosmetic medicine.
"I don't have to wear a veiled hat ever again." Dong Rui touched his face. No matter how broadly he grinned now, his mouth wouldn't tear open all the way back to his ears. "No one will recognize me."
One of this demon puppet master's trademarks was his hideously rotted face.
He Lingchuan finally understood why this fellow had agreed so readily to stay earlier—turns out he had this reliance.
Even if he came face-to-face with Lingxu City pursuers, assuming they didn't employ any tracking divine abilities, they likely wouldn't recognize him.
He Lingchuan hesitated, picked up a soft pillar, and asked him, "Hey, don't you find this material somewhat familiar?"
Both of them had come into contact with it, and for quite a while at that.
Dong Rui glanced at him. "Seems like that exact stuff. But as long as it lets me go out and face people, I'd dare wear anything!"
"As expected of you." He Lingchuan gave him a thumbs-up. "Do you want me to arrange a different place for you to stay?"
Originally, Dong Rui couldn't be seen by anyone, which was why He Lingchuan had arranged the lake islet for him.
"No need." Dong Rui shook his head. "It's quiet here, so I can still research a few things. Besides, it's not good to let outsiders see these demon puppets all the time, and the snail-toad likes damp mud. This place suits it perfectly."
"I'll be going now. I'll bring bedding over for you later."
Because of National Preceptor Qingyang's actions, He Lingchuan's plans were forced to accelerate.
Time was far too tight, and he had a pile of things to attend to.
That afternoon, Old Shan came by and delivered quite a few items to He Lingchuan:
The magic artifacts and supplies he had commissioned Li Qingge to make were all finished!
He Lingchuan was overjoyed. "The Marquis really ought to change his nickname to 'Timely Rain'!"
Old Shan smiled. "I will be sure to pass that along."
Afterward, He Lingchuan sent a short letter to Fang Canran asking for a favor.
In the middle of the night, Fang Canran's reply arrived, containing only a few brief words:
*Can do, but one thousand jin at most!*
He Lingchuan let out a long sigh of relief. Fortunately, he already had helpers in Lingxu City.
While going it alone offered flexibility and made it harder to be detected, having more people had its advantages—watching out for one another made handling unexpected situations far more reliable.
Afterward, he spent half the day tinkering in his room and a long time calculating with brush and paper before finally taking out the mirror and saying to Juju's avatar inside, "I'm heading up the mountain right now."
"What?" The rock-fire monster grew instantly alert. "Did something happen?"
"Looking at the sky, there's heavy rain coming over the next few days, making a test flight inconvenient," He Lingchuan said calmly. "Better to seize the moment and confirm the formation core's location today. A matter this important cannot be dragged out."
Juju recalled the sudden shower earlier that evening, which had indeed been merely the vanguard of a torrential storm.
"Come on over, then."
Under the cover of night, He Lingchuan crept stealthily onto the lake islet of Pianxiang Villa and said to Dong Rui, "Time to depart. To Mount Xu."
With the snail-toad in hand, he too could come and go like a ghost, skipping even the effort of shaking off the Tongxin Guards.
As soon as He Lingchuan drew near, the snail-toad reacted; its body suddenly expanded, and its mouth smacked a few times, as though it wanted to flick out its tongue and devour him.
*Not a very friendly attitude.* He Lingchuan cautiously took two steps back.
Dong Rui didn't fear getting his hands coated in slimy moisture; he stroked its head and whispered a few words. Even with He Lingchuan's sharp hearing, he couldn't catch what was said, or even tell if it was intelligible to human ears.
Yet after that brief whisper, the snail-toad's attitude clearly softened. Not only did it flatten back against the ground, but its two upright, raised feelers retracted at the same time.
Whatever else could be said about this kid Dong Rui, his knack for taming monsters was truly first-rate.
"All right, let's go." Dong Rui patted the snail-toad's large head and whistled.
The bat demon puppet flew in from who knew where and landed on his shoulder. Dong Rui then stepped onto the snail-toad's body and crawled into the shell. He Lingchuan followed closely behind, slipping so badly he almost couldn't keep his footing. Fortunately, his cultivation was formidable; with a quick stumble, he stabilized himself.
Then, he felt waves of peristaltic squirming beneath his feet. Without taking a single step, his body moved forward, as if he were standing on a conveyor belt.
This was the snail-toad using the power of its muscles to transport him deep into the snail shell.
The combination of a mollusk and an amphibian was truly incredible.
Miraculously, while the lake islet was pitch dark, the inside of the snail shell was quite bright; He Lingchuan could even see a small door ahead.
Dong Rui pushed the door open and entered, and He Lingchuan hopped in as well.
And then, the scenery before their eyes changed completely.
They seemed to find themselves inside a small cabin, its walls and ceiling made of a peculiar material—neither wood nor metal, resembling grayish-white stone. He Lingchuan tapped it twice; the sound was dull.
It seemed to be the snail shell itself.
Was this a small space generated inside the magic artifact "Snail Dwelling"?
Three sides of the room each had a window; the remaining side had two doors.
Although the windows were open frames, a person couldn't go through them, blocked by an invisible barrier.
He Lingchuan looked out the window and directly saw the landscape on the lake islet: the newly cleared open ground, the damp and dark soil, the lush giant banyan tree, the wooden table brought outside, and the half meat bun resting on the table—leftover from Dong Rui's meal.
The three windows faced three directions, giving anyone inside the room a two-hundred-and-seventy-degree field of view.
The door they had entered through remained open; Dong Rui hadn't shut it.
Standing in the room, the two found that outside both doors lay the view directly in front of the snail-toad, yet the scenes differed slightly, as if the angles shifted constantly.
He Lingchuan pondered it for a moment and understood what was going on:
"Are these the fields of vision from the snail-toad's two eyes?"
Chapter 668